Tasting Notes: GHQ Gin (July 2022 Subscription)
I’m not sure how much I can tell you about GHQ Gin and the shadowy Ministry of Drinks that pull the strings. After taking the Nautilus to the North Sea coast of Scotland, I was taken to a secret location in a windowless carriage. I had heard positive things about their gin but did not expect them to be taking this so seriously. I was blindfolded, sat down in a cold room and told to sip the gin in front of me. After expressing my delight in the drink, the intimidating men and women left the room. This was followed by the unmistakable sound of gas being pumped into the room.
The next thing, I woke up in the Nautilus with boxes of gin next to me, a bottle of which now finds its way into your possession. GHQ was launched about 18 months ago. Despite their secrecy, some details have leaked into the public domain. We know it was inspired by founder James’s love of the stories about the Second World War told to him by his grandmother as well as the books and films he consumed when he was younger. We know that it was going to be based in London but ended up being produced in their top secret gin headquarters in the Scottish Highlands.
Before we talk about the gin, I want to pay homage to GHQ’s love of the clandestine workings of the British Secret Service during World War Two and write about the incredible Odette Samsom.
Odette was born in 1912 in Amiens in Northern France, a town that suffered more than its fair share of horrors during the First World War. After marrying an Englishman, she moved over here in 1931. During the war, she was recruited by the Special Operations Executive (SOE), a short-lived incarnation of the British secret services, and was sent undercover into German occupied France in 1942. Unfortunately, the German spy-hunter Hugo Bleicher had managed to recruit one of the SOE as an unwitting double agent. Odette and Churchill were captured just five months later. Odette found herself at the hands of the Gestapo who were determined to get her to talk.
The SOE were initially very reluctant to recruit her, with one of her evaluators remarking "She is impulsive and hasty in her judgments and has not quite the clarity of mind which is desirable in subversive activity. She seems to have little experience of the outside world. She is excitable and temperamental, although she has a certain determination.
"A certain determination proved to be an understatement. ‘Stubborn to the point of heroism’ may have been a better description. The Gestapo burned her with a red hot poker and pulled out all of her toenails, but she just answered “I have nothing to say” to each question, saving the lives of many in the process.
Asked after the war about how she got through it, she explained that she was "not brave, not courageous, but just made up my mind about certain things”, explaining that if she could "survive the next minute without breaking, that is another minute of life. And if I can think that way instead of thinking what is going to happen in a half-hour's time, I was able to accept this, and survive it."
She earned the respect of her captors but in June 1943 she was condemned to death on two counts. In typical fashion she told an infuriated Bleicher "Then you will have to make up your mind on what count I am to be executed, because I can only die once."
She was then sent to Ravensbrück Concentration Camp where she, against the odds, survived until the end of the war. As the allies closed in on Ravensbrück, the camp commandant forced her into his car in the hope that her connection to Winston Churchill would allow him to negotiate himself out of execution. Unluckily for him, Odette had no such connection - she had merely told the Germans she was related to him in order to make them think her more valuable alive than dead. Also unfortunately for him, she hated Nazis and testified against him at his war crime trial. He was executed in 1950.
Upon her return to England she married her fellow spy Peter Churchill. As well as being awarded the Legion d’honneur, she was the first woman to be given the George Cross, which was stolen from her mother’s house in a burglary in 1951. After Odette’s mother made an appeal for its return, the burglar gave it back with a note that read “You, madame, appear to be a dear old lady. God bless you and your children. I thank you for having faith in me. I am not all that bad - it’s just circumstances. Your little dog really loves me. I gave him a nice pat and left him a piece of meat - out of the fridge. Sincerely yours, A Bad Egg.”
Odette eventually died in 1995 aged 82.
Anyway, that’s enough of my barely relevant tale. Let’s unveil the secrets of GHQ gin! Pour yourself a splash, shipmates and dive in. It’s been a while since we’ve featured a floral dry. On the nose, you’re hit with very prominent juniper and lavender as well as refreshing lemon. On the palate there’s a lovely mix of herbaceous and floral notes before the smooth finish comes in with some subtle anise notes. Like taking a lie down in a summer meadow with a glass of gin. Or like lying in a bath of gin next to some dried flowers. Depending on your preference. For mixers, I’ve included some tonic and ginger ale, and some lemongrass for garnish.
And so there I finish this top secret missive. I must insist you burn these notes and tell no-one of what we have spoken.
Love and Barnacles
Your Loyal Captain